Pardons

If I had the power to pardon people, I think that I would definately pardon the people who actually had an unfair trial. From what I understand, pardons have been viewed as sort of unfair, and to save political reputations. I would pardon people who didn't have the right to a fair trial because I think that is one of the most important rights we should have in our country; the right to a fair and unbiased trial. I think pardons such as the Watergate scandal are ridiculous. Politicians messed up and should be responsible for their actions, and be punished. If people did wrong-doings in our country, they shouldn't be pardoned. Having the power would mean that I would need to use something sort of like judicial restraint. I would put personal relationships and other affairs aside to decide what is fair to those who asked to be pardoned.

Equal Opportunity to Govern

I agree that naturalized citizens should be elegible for things such as governors, senators, statesmen/women, but I don't think they should be elegible to be president. When I picture the President of the United States, I picture someone who was born in the United States and knows what it is like to grow up as an American family. Although it may sound shallow, I believe that our president should be born inour country. That would be like me being able to be the President of Spain. I think having other responisblilties in the country as a naturalized citizen would be an honor, and being president would be even more of an honor, but I do not think that they should have the opportunity.

Palin Rally

Even though John McCain and Sarah Palin didn't win, it was still really neat to see Sarah Palin in person speaking at Hurkcamp Park. Despite the coldness factor, and the rain, there was a huge turnout of different groups of people. There was the big man in the overalls and the clean-cut Southern gentleman behind me. It was neat to see such a mix of people. I was reallu surprised by how many young people showed up. I saw people there that live in my neighborhood and that I've played sports with that I haven't seen in awhile.

As far as Sarah acutally speaking, I think that her speech wasn't as exciting as I anticipated. I've never heard about Tito the Construction Worker, but I thought that was a little bit not P.C. Joe the Plumber works, but Tito the Construction Worker? I thought that was a little weird. She was dressed nicely and I thought it would good that she didn't necessarilly bash the Democrats the whole time, which was great to me. I didn't want it to get childish, and Ifelt like it wasn't.

Overall, I really enjoyed going to the rally more than I expected.

Obama's Advisors

I think that Obama will primarily be working with the Treasury Department and the Justice Department. Working closely with the Treasury Department will help get us closer to fixing our economic problems. Since Obama really wants to continue the search for bin Laden, I think that he will be looking for advising from the Justice Department. The Justice Department will not only help to keep Obama safe, but they also have the technology to find bin Laden and protect our country as a whole.

Election Results

I'm really glad that Obama won. I think it's awesome. Our country needs a change and I think he will be the perfect person for it. Looking at the polls, I was a little scared at like 7:00. My stepdad turned CNN on and McCain had 8 electoral college votes and Obama had 3. Although it wouldn't have been horrible if McCain won, I'm excited for the changes that will hopefully arise.

I think it's so awesome that this is such a crucial point in my life (senior year) and that I was alive to see such an amazing thing in history. The first black president of the United States. Yesterday on the bus, I was talking to Jamie, Nicholas and Mrs. Nobles about the election. Mrs.Nobles told us that Obama was elected president and the world still went on. Thats a huge deal. People are ok with having a black president, at least the people that I have met. I'm really excited for these next 4 years.

Should the Voting AGe be Lowered to Sixteen?

I don't think that the voting age should be lowered in America. Even though it would get more people involved in politics at an older age, I feel as though people our age do not know exactly what goes on in Washington. I think 18 is the perfect age because legally the person is an adult. They have adult rights, they can support themselves, they can make their own choices, and they are more independent. I think that if a sixteen year old were to vote, they would be swayed by their parents' political views. As the handout brought up, high school students usually don't complete civics or government until their junior or senior year. Typically, a sixteen year old is a sophomore in high school or a beginning junior. In other countries, such as Tanzania, I say go for the lowering the voting age. If the children are done with school and their life expectancy is shorter, why not be able to vote? But as for America, I think that the voting age should say exactly where it is now.

Should the Electoral College be reformed?

Question 1: No- I think no because it will just make everything even more confusing (is that even possible?) if it is reformed.

Questions 2: No: I still think that it shouldn't be reformed. After reading the "No" side of things, it kind of makes me agree that it is ridiculous that the vote in Wyoming is 3 times more powerful than that of California. The Electoral College doesn't represent everyone in America as well. Maybe it should be reformed?

Question 3: I said yes. I think that it should be reformed even though the vote may represent the more populated region.

Question 4: I think no. Why not let there be political stability? If there is a clear election winner, people will be able to accept the new leader and thus it will be more stable.

Question 5: No

Should there be limits on interest group participation?

I don't think there should be limits on interest group participation. The whole purpose of interest groups is to target the interests of individuals for the the greater good. If George Soros wanted to donate $15.8 million to MoveOn.org, then so be it. I don't think that 4H groups should have the same voice as the National Dairy Association. The National Dairy Association is for the whole country and is for food and health of the nation. 4H can be different in which ever county a person may reside in. I do think that wealthier groups do have a more prominent voice, as they should, because they have the resources that make their point known.

Should gays be allowed to marry?

1st Question: Should gays be allowed to marry?- I think yes. Love is love to me. I know that traditionally marriage is between a man and woman, but times are changing. I think it would benefit homosexuals to get married so they could share health insurance benefits, life insurance after their loved one dies, and because they should be allowed to express their love to the world.
2nd question: I still believe gays should be allowed to marry and I think it’s outrageous that “many people believe that denying marriage licenses to homosexuals is not discriminatory.” It is discriminatory in my eyes. I don’t think that those who go through therapy can somehow just come out of it and be heterosexual. I don’t think it works like that. I’m straight but I’ve heard from homosexuals that being gay isn’t something that they can control.
3rd Question: I still think that gays should be allowed to be married. I looked at the “no” side of the question and I saw that some scholars believe that the Bible isn’t clear in its denunciation of homosexuality. When someone, like my stepbrother, says it’s a sin to be gay, or to be gay and married, I want to know where in the Bible it says that exactly. It may be implied, but I certainly don’t think it says “GAYS SHALL BE CONDEMNED TO HELL!!!!”
4th Question: Reading that children raised single-sex homes are at a higher risk for a psychological problem concerns me, but it does not change my opinion. I believe that someone can always have a father figure in your life, whether it is your grandfather, uncle, or family friend. I think gays should be married to stabilize the health care problems that were described in this question.
5th Question: Yes. I think that gays should still be allowed to marry. Children can be adopted and still have a connection with their parents. Gay couples can adopt. They should be allowed to get married so they can adopt. There are so many alternatives to “manufacture” being a parent. The “no” side pretty much said that times are changing and that gay marriage is the next evolution. I think this is true. We are in a different time period than the time the Bible was written. We are not in the 1950’s where the man makes the money and woman stays at home and takes care of the kids and the house. We’re in a time when anyone can do anything; so why can’t gays get married?

Midterm Blog- Who would I vote for?

If I could vote right now, I would probably vote for Obama. Although the Republican Party is known to be better with handling money, I do not trust McCain with our country. In my opinion, Obama knows more about what younger Americans and middle class Americans need and want. He grew up in a middle class family and was raised by a single parent. I think I would choose Obama partly because of his education plans and his environmental plans as well. My mom is a special education teacher and I feel like her job gets overlooked--very overlooked. I think that Obama really has plans for teachers AND students. When I look at John McCain's website and read his education plan I see nothing about teachers. I only see things about the school systems, and I do not support the whole voucher idea.
Obama really wants change in our country and I think that if he is elected president there will changes. I realize that all of the changes may not be positive, but I feel like wants to make our country a better place for everyone. John McCain seems like a good leader, but I don't think that we can depend on such on older person and someone who is so similar to Bush. Look where George W. Bush got us today. I feel like things have only gotten worse in the 8 years that we have had him as our president. As sick as I am of the political slander and the tension between the two canidates, I feel like Obama carries himself in a better way and I just beleive that our country needs someone like him who is concerned about the environment and wants to help the middle class, not just talk about it. John McCain is a war veteran, and I respect that, but Obama has really worked his way to the top through hard work and I think that all Americans should do that. I want soliders to come home from Iraq...most of all I want to know why we are there when we aren't doing anything. It has been way too long since the war started.
Overall, I just support what Obama has to say more than McCain. It isn't a matter of who is a better person because bother of the candidates seem like great leaders, but when it comes to a vote I think someone should vote for who they trust to change and make our country better. I trust Obama.

Presidential Debates Round Two

I feel like I have gotten nothing out of this debate. They both aren't following the rules of the debate. They're going over the time limit and rambling on. It seems like every question that is asked, both candidates don't answer it, or they just decide that they'll bash the other candidate. I understand that in debates, you are supposed to point out your opponent's weaknesses, but this isn't a debate to me: its a hostile bragging fest. McCain at one point said "Well Senator Obama's plan or something.." Newsflash McCain: this isn't the third grade anymore. You're 72 years old, now speak like one who's ready to a president. Obama was not up to par with his speaking as usual, and I was a little disappointed. The debate overall has been disappointing. It was a repeat of what they said last week and what their VP's said. I learned nothing new from the debate, which I feel bad saying. The biggest thing I learned is that I feel like these men are more concerned about themselves than the well being of our country. "I voted.." "I wrote..." "I warned..." I don't care! Tell me what you can do in the future.
As far as the style of this debate, I liked it better than the last debate. I think it was a lot better because they were questions that average Americans wanted to know. Questions that I've been wondering for a little while. Obama did a really good job of remembering the people's names. McCain called Oliver, "Allen." McCain forgot Ingrid's name too. That was a little obsurd to me. I really liked the moderator. He added a lot of comedy to releive the tension from the two canidates. The candidates seemed a little bit more relaxed than the last time because of the environment I think.

Political Ad

I thought this ad was a good because it gave some background to McCain's experience in the military and patriotism during another difficult time in America. If you're on www.johnmccain.com, the ad is titled "Love," which I think is attention grabbing because it doesn't seem like it would be slanderous towards the other party. I love how it had pictures, videoclips, and a hippy-feel in the beginning. Although it may pump up McCain to be a bigger hero than he is, it's a really nice ad.

VP Debate

Sarah Palin is scaring me. I really didn't support either Vice President, but she keeps rambling off and addressing the problems in ALASKA! I realize that Alaska is a part of the United States of America, but she isn't going to be the Vice President of Alaska. Palin rattled off names of terriosts and leaders of countries-- in a derogatory way. That right there scares me.
Even though I don't think either Biden or Palin won the Debate, I thought Biden handled it all more professionally. He left his personal life out of what he was saying-- Sarah mentioned she and her husband and refered to themselves as "middle class Americans." At times, I really thought that Biden was biting his cheeks and trying not to laugh in her face. I felt bad for her because it was her first televised Debate I think (I'm not positive). She and Biden tended to get way off topic and it was frustrating. I think Americans wanted the questions to be answered, and I feel like nothing was answered in the Debate.

Elite school and political humor

Ok so, I'd have to agree with this college admissions adviser in response to this article. As much as I would love to have the brains go to an elite college, I just don't find it realistic for what I want to pursue. I want to be a nurse. Majoring in nursing is apparently a difficult major, and I'm ready for it, but it would not be very smart for me to go to Columbia University for my undergrad. Mrs. Garcia told me recently that for nursing, where you go for undergrad is not the most important; graduate school. Choosing to go to an elite institution really is a personal choice.
The funniest example of political humor that I've seen lately is definately Sarah Silverman's "The Great Schelp." Jewish comedian Silverman has been trying to send the message to older Jewish Floridians that their vote counts and that they should vote for Obama. Although the video is inappropriate for school, its absolutely hilarious. Coming from Jewish roots on my father's side and Irish-Catholic roots on my mother's side, this video was really hilarious to see how Silverman wanted to educate elderly Jewish people.

environment and energy: the vote!

If I had to vote, I would probably vote for Obama. I really like that he plans to cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions and I also like the Cap and Trade Plan. I think it's unrealistic for McCain to say that he is going to give $5000 tax deductions to people who buy clean cars. Spending money and putting it towards something everyone can benefit from is what I think will be more helpful in the longrun. I don't agree with help for the environment turning into a competition. I don't really understand what McCain is trying to do with coal from the speech today. I do know that Obama wants to make fuel prices lower, which is beneficial to me.

The results!

When I took the quiz, I came out to be Liberal. I wasn't expecting be so far on the Liberal scale. I don't agree with some of the things it said about how I came out to be. For example, religion is not very important. I may not be the most religious, but I don't think its not important. I know it was just an online quiz, but I still don't agree with some of the things it said. I don't mind being a Liberal because I feel like that means I'm open to changes in our country. Since I'm semi-concerned about the environment, I hope that our country will become more green.
It was really interesting to see that video today. I felt so bad for that little girl, but I thought it was neat to see how she adjusted her campaign after the incident. It was interesting to see how the communism shone through in one of the boys' campaign.

McCain/Palin speech at RNC

I just YouTubed John McCain's speech at the RNC. The first thing I thought of was that he reminds me so much of President Bush. Not to say that I hate Bush or anything, but I'm not the fondest of him. For the first 15 minutes of McCain's speech he bragged. He bragged about his hot wife. He bragged about how he's tried to change things in the past for our country. Things that I've never heard about, even though I don't pay close attention to him. I don't know. I just had a different vibe then I did from the DNC. This was more uptight, rigid, the people in the crowd were different, and the venue was obviously different. I really didn't like watching the RNC as much as I liked the DNC.
After having McCain's ideas shoved down my throat by my stepdad, I was expecting something a little more impressive from McCain. But I didn't find that at all. He's so old and I don't like how old fashioned he is. I feel like our country will be in the exact same position we are in now if McCain wins the election.
After I watched some of McCain's speech, I went on to google Sarah Palin and watch 2 parts of her speech. She reminds me of my mom. She's the same age, shes a sports mom, she mentions the importance of embracing special needs children, and how her parents were elementary school teachers. I can't imagine having my mom as Vice President of our country, and my mom said the same thing. I don't think it's a horrible thing though that her daughter is pregnant. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes can turn out to be a blessing. It just happened at the wrong time in her daughter's life. I don't think the press should fault Palin for that or slander her family.

Iraq

So I'm supposed to blog about something I care about politically. I guess it's the war in Iraq. I have no idea what we're doing there. The war started when I was in my first year of middle school. I'm in my last year of high school now and we're still there.
I remember being so excited when the war started. I had no idea why we were there except to help free the Iraqis from Sadaam's dictatorship. It was the coolest thing because I never thought I'd be alive for a war involving America. Now everything is affected by the war in our country and because of the election it's being brought to my attention even more.
As a young driver, I don't want to spend $40 to fill up my Civic. At one point this summer it cost almost $50. Our economy sucks becasue of this war. Almost $4 for a box of cereal. It's very, very strange. I'm glad the gas prices are dropping lately though.
I feel bad for the students in my mom's class who are traumatized by the fact that their father is in Iraq and have had to go back for the 3rd time. I understand that when you are a solider, you have to sacrifice things and leave your family. I'd be so frustrated if I had a husband and kids, and my husband had to leave to go back to Iraq for the third time. Why have him leave if we don't even know why we're there?
I support Obama wanting to end the war in Iraq because I think he understands that most Americans don't know why we're there anymore.

Obama for Change

Obama came onto the screen later than I expected but oh well. I will say that when his biography started rolling I was completely shocked. I had no idea that his mother was white and his father was black. I think that since Obama comes from both white and black heritages, it may be refreshing to have both points of view and eventually make him an even stronger canidate.
As he walked on stage the cheers were incredible. It was laso incredible how many times he said thank you. I tried timing it how long he said thank you for. I believe it was over a minute. After awhile I'd get so tired of saying those words.
I think it's going to be important for Americans to realize that Obama came from a family with middle class struggles. His mother was trying to make her way through college while raising two children. His grandfather was a veteran and his grandmother worked in the factories. That means a lot. I think that having a presidential candidate who comes from a middle class family, who was affected by the decisions of previous president, will be very important. Obama summed up what America should be like perfectly. He said that Americans should have to experience "hardwork and sacrifice t o acheive dreams." He wants to help Americans acheive those dreams.
Obama really shows compassion when he is taking a dig at someone. For example, expressing his gratitude and respect for his opponent, John McCain, for serving our country. Of course, he followed with the fact that McCain has backed 90% of Bush's decisions. He also went out of his way to compliment Hillary being a role model for young girls. That is certainly a stretch in my opinion. She isn't a role model to me, nor will she ever be. From what I've seen and heard about Hillary, she was immature during the primaries.
Overall I'm really liking what Obama has to say. It's unfortunate that I won't be able to vote for such a huge election this year.

Joe Biden

I'm watching the Convention right now and I had absolutely no idea that he wrote the Violence Against Women Act. This definitely affects me, since I am a woman. As an American woman (no pun intended :-D ) I would feel more comfortable with a vice president looking out for me and my rights as a woman. I really like how Joe said himself that everyone gets knocked down, but its about how you get back up.
I'm also in shock that Joe Biden named his son Beau. I thought that the announcer made a mistake. It really warms my heart though, that Joe Biden turned down being the senator when his children were in the hospital to be by their side. I really admire that. It shows how he supports the strength of family life as well as the government.
I feel like he is bending over and kissing the Clinton's butt with his introduction. I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but he stated how much he looks up to Billy and how Hillary has changed history.